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Women making up much of new motorcycle sales
Wednesday, May 04





WARREN -- Judy Greene is a typical American motorcycle rider.

The 55-year-old Howland native grew up around motorcycles and her mother rode an Indian Motorcycle in 1937.


Greene has ridden more than 150,000 miles on three Harleys.


At Harley-Davidson Motor Company, sales in the United States to women rose to 23,000 in 2003, or 10 percent of total sales. Just 2 percent of Harleys were bought by women in 1985, the company said.


That reflects the industry wide trend: the Motorcycle Industry Council reports that women accounted for nearly 10 percent of all motorcycle owners nationwide in 2003, up from 8.2 percent the previous year.


Dealers are expanding their lines of women’s clothing and other accessories, as well as adding women employees, to help get women involved with motorcycles.


Surging gasoline costs are another big driver of motorcycle sales, dealers say. As gasoline prices top 2 dollars a gallon, motorcycles that deliver 40 miles per gallon or more look appealing, although many require more expensive premium gasoline.

When was that article written? Gas is now over $4.00 a gallon here.

While it may be true that there are more women getting into motorcycling, only a few dealers are women friendly....so to speak....A lot of them around here are still in the dark ages and some shops largely ignore women when they go in.

Now that I've had my bike for several months and visited a lot of shops looking for a helmet and accessories, I now know a few that are "enlightened", and will shop there.